


Pinky Swear

by Levaaah



Series: Freefalling [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Bruce Wayne is kind of an irresponsible parent, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Sassy Alfred Pennyworth, lets be honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25810993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levaaah/pseuds/Levaaah
Summary: I don't know where you're going,But do you got room for one more troubled soulI don't know where I'm going,But I don't think I'm coming homeEleanor is fifteen, she's just found out that Bruce haskidnappedbrought home another orphaned kid. Only this one is about as skittish as a wild horse.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Original Female Character
Series: Freefalling [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631698
Kudos: 37





	Pinky Swear

_2013 – March – Gotham  
_

Eleanor is woken up by a too loud rap on her bedroom door, startling her to sit up and rub her face jaw aching from the chemistry book she’d been sleeping on. She shoots a look out the window and darkness greet her; the digital clock reads ten forty-six on her nightstand. Blinking the remnants of her sleep from her eyes she stands from her desk. Messy now from the number of notes littering it’s surface. Eleanor looks to the door, remembering it’s what woke her up.

“Yes? Come in.” She calls out in a groggy voice.

Alfred opens the door with an apologetic smile on his face. “Apologies if I woke you Miss, but Master Bruce requests your presence in the family room.”

Eleanor stretches in her seat before she stands, she’s still dressed in dark denim jeans and a bright blue tank top. Her room is warm from the heating, but the rest of the manor is usually a couple of degrees colder, so she grabs the Superman hoodie that Dick had gotten her as a joke present, before following Alfred.

“Did dad say why?” Eleanor questions, as they descend the stairs.

“A new guest, Miss,” Alfred vaguely replies. Eleanor rubs her eyes, stifling a yawn and then tucks her hands into her hoodie. It’s a couple of sizes too big for her, reaching slightly above mid-thigh. Dad had taken one look at it the first time Dick had dared her to wear it and scowled that way that had made them both laugh once he’d left the room.

“A guest?” She prompts.

“Indeed.” The butler replies, he doesn’t sound very happy. Eleanor wonders if it’s the supposed ‘guest’ or if dad had made another decision that Alfred passive-aggressively disagreed with. Like when he’d allowed herself and Dick to fight crime at such a young age.

 _Note to self_ , she thinks as they’re walking downstairs _, ask dad why he thought she was the person to talk to whomever it was waiting for her_. Eleanor wasn’t exactly a people person. Sure, she could fake a bubbly personality, but she was a bit of a loner, Dick would’ve been a much better candidate for the job. He was still in New York after another argument-turned-fight. She bites back an unhappy sigh, she hadn’t wanted to pick a side. She understood them both really, Dick had been shot and Bruce had freaked out in his own way. But instead of talking about it like a normal person, he’d instantly benched them both.

Alfred stops in front of the door to the family room, she can hear the crackling of the fireplace inside, even though it’s almost drowned out by the rain pattering on the windows. Eleanor opens the door and recognizes the black-haired kid immediately. Jason Todd. The twelve-year-old that stole the wheels on the Batmobile. She wants to laugh, _of course dad would take him in,_ instead, Eleanor gives a small nod to Alfred and steps into the room.

“Who are you?” Jason asks, he’s cautious, standing by one of the windows he’s opened it slightly, an escape route? Smart kid.

“Eleanor Wayne,” Eleanor replies, sitting down in front of the fire in one of the armchairs, crossing her legs.

“…You’re Bruce Wayne’s daughter.” Jason states, still not moving away from the window. She nods, resting her head against the palm of her hand. Hoping to give off enough of a relaxed pose that he wouldn’t try and jump out the window.

“Who’re you?”

Jason hesitates, no doubt debating whether he could trust her or not.

“Jason,” he says then after a moment pause. “The old guy who drove me here, said to wait for Wayne.”

“Well, here I am.”

He glares at her, Eleanor bites back a smile.

“I meant Bruce Wayne.”

“Dad’s probably just late, CEO work and all that,” Eleanor stretches again. Or more likely, Bruce was sat in the cave watching this entire encounter. She blinks up towards the kid. “You hungry?”

“I-… what?”

“I could go for a cheeseburger, there’s a great place in the western side of Amusement Mile, by the docks, wanna go?”

Jason blinks at her owlishly, surprise written all over him. Eleanor stands up, raising a questioning eyebrow towards him.

“Is the butler driving?” He asks, taking half a step towards her, Eleanor shakes her head.

“No, I am.”

She starts walking out of the room and can hear Jason as he jogs to catch up to her. Eleanor can’t help but note that his shoes have seen better days too. So, shopping, she’d put that on the list. Burgers first though.

“You have a licence?” Jason asks, Eleanor shakes her head again.

“Not sixteen yet, but I can drive, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid!” Jason says, fiercely. Forcing her to stop walking as he steps in front of her. Eleanor chuckles lightly. Stepping around him to continue to the garage.

“I believe you kid.”

“I’m twelve, not a kid.”

Uh-huh. Not like Eleanor had said the same thing to her dad when she’d been twelve years old. Eleanor walks them to the garage, flicking the light on when the doors open. Jason’s eyes go wide.

“How many cars are there?”

“In here? Uhm, ten-or-so?”

“Ten,” Jason mutters, with a shake of his head.

“Rich people,” Eleanor says, like it’s an explanation. “Once you reach billionaire standing you need to have at least ten cars at your home garage, it’s rule number five in the fancy ass handbook.”

“The fancy ass handbook?” Jason repeats, giving her a _very_ dubious look.

“Yup, rich kids like me are born with one,” Eleanor can’t help the teasing smile that grows on her lips before she nods towards the cars. “Pick one.”

Eleanor watches Jason’s eyes widen again, before he starts looking around. Glancing up towards the hidden camera she thumbs up, knowing that her dad was probably watching. If Bruce really didn’t want her to do this, he would have stopped Eleanor a while ago.

“Is that a Porsche?” Jason’s voice drags her attention back towards him. He’s running his hand over the hood of the silver car. Dick’s favourite. Before she can say anything, Jason’s moved on, running across the room to one of Eleanor’s favourites. The metallic dark-blue two thousand-thirteen Mercedes-Benz. A new addition to her father’s collection.

“This one,” Jason calls, looking at her with excited eyes. Eleanor reaches over to the security locked vault, pressing her thumb against the scanner. Then opens her eyes wider to let the retinal scanner do its work.

 _“Authorized: Eleanor Wayne.”_ The familiar automized voice says, and the lock clicks open.

Eleanor grabs the key to the Mercedes, and then shuts the vault door.

“Can I drive?” Jason asks as she walks towards him.

“Nope,” Eleanor muses, reaching over and ruffles his hair before she slips inside the driver’s seat. He shots her a glare but quickly opens the passenger door to and takes a seat. “Seat-belt on, kid.”

“I’m not a kid, rich girl,” he mutters, but does put the belt on.

Eleanor puts her own belt on before she turns the car on, muscle memory doing all the checks before she pulls out of the garage. Once they’re on the road Eleanor reaches out towards the touch screen to phone Alfred. He answers within seconds.

_“Miss Eleanor, how can I be of assistance?”_

“Hey Alfred, can you activate the card in the Mercedes, the metallic blue one.” Eleanor reaches into the glove box, grabs the credit card and hands out to Jason, he takes it tentatively, flipping it over several times.

_“Of course, Miss, one moment.”_

“You grew up like this?” Jason asks, she presses the mute button on the call to Alfred half-way through his sentence.

“No,” Eleanor replies, forcing herself not to frown “dad was always busy. I spent most of my time alone, well, at least until I was seven.”

“What changed?”

“Dad took in another kid,” Eleanor replies feeling a small smile grow on her lips. “He was a year older than me and had gone through some terrible stuff, but we became best friends.”

 _“Miss Eleanor? It is done, have a good trip with Master Todd.”_ She reaches over to press the unmute button on the touch screen.

“Thanks Alfred, what would we do without you?” Eleanor chuckles.

_“I dread to think, Miss.”_

The call cuts and Jason peers out the window.

“So, I’m not the first.”

“No.”

“What happened to him?”

“He’s still around, he’s doing volunteer these days though, so chances are you won’t meet him until the end of next week. If you stick around.” _Technically_ not a lie, the ‘volunteer work’ was more the punching of bad guys. Still, Dick was helping people.

Jason snaps his head around to stare at her.

“You think I’ll run?”

“Jury’s still out on that one,” a bit harsh maybe, Eleanor thinks, as Jason glares down at the card in his hands. But Eleanor had a feeling he’d prefer it to being coddled. When Jason doesn’t say anything, she presses the button on the radio, and the car fills with sounds of the latest pop-song. Not particularly her style, Eleanor’s more of a classic’s kind of girl, but she doesn’t like silence, of any kind.

It doesn’t take long at all before they reach the diner, it’s not quite midnight yet, so there’s still some people around. But then again, this place was open twenty-four-seven so there’s always bound to be people around. Eleanor parks, turning off the car and holds her hand out for the card. Jason hands it over to her, whilst unbuckling himself from the seatbelt. The large letter of her family name stares back at her when Eleanor looks at it.

“Hey rich girl,” Jason says as the two of them get out of the car, she looks over at him, shooting him a questioning glance. “What’s with the Superman hoodie?”

Well, Eleanor hadn’t expected that question.

“Dick got it for me as a joke present,” she says holding back a laugh. “He swore I’d never wear it, so now I do just to prove him wrong.”

“Dick?” Jason blinks, “the other kid?”

Eleanor nods. “Come on, let’s get some food” she says, and starts jogging towards the diner, pulling the hood up to try and keep out the worst of the rain. She locks the car by pressing the button on the keys once they’re under cover. The bell chimes welcomingly as they step inside. There are a few people around, mostly night workers and some people who probably just couldn’t sleep, but it’s quiet bar the low buzz of the TV in the corner. Eleanor waves at Betty, the mid-thirties waitress that’s usually worked the night shift, as Nightingale she’s saved the woman from being jumped a year or so ago, of course Betty didn’t know that it had been Eleanor but the older woman had kind of wormed her way into Eleanor’s heart. Betty is chatting with another guy at the counter, so she just smiles and gives her a wave with a quick.

“Take a seat sweetie and I’ll be right with you.”

Eleanor quickly moves over to her spot, the one that gives her a good view of the entrance and exits. One of the reasons why Eleanor loved his place was how easy it was to see people come and go. Jason sits down opposite her, he looks like he’s unsure whether he wants to be here, or not. She picks up the menu and flips it over so Jason can read it, tapping the third order down the list of hamburgers.

“That one’s my favourite,” Eleanor moves her finger down to the fifth one. “That one’s also good, but spicy.”

Jason hesitates, “Can I have both?”

“Sure, anything you want.” He goes back to looking at the list. Betty appears not soon after, squeezing into the seat Eleanor’s sat on and hugs her.

“It’s been a while, Ella! Who’s your friend? And where’s that handsome acrobat of yours?”

“Nice to see you haven’t changed Betty,” Eleanor smiles, hugging the older woman back, “this is Jason, he’s… a friend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jason says, holding a hand out for the waitress to shake. Betty’s eyes widen and she smiles.

“Such a gentleman, huh?” Betty takes Jason’s hand and squeezes it. “Call me Betty, a friend of Eleanor is a friend of mine!” Betty titters.

Jason’s eyes flickers to meet hers a bit of an uncertain look in them, and Eleanor can’t hide the smile on her lips.

“So, what can I get for you lovely’s?”

“I’ll just have my usual, Bee.” Eleanor says, the older woman scribbles something down on the small block of paper in her hand.

“And for the young man?”

“Uhm,” Jason’s eyes flickers over the menu again, “The three, five and uhm, the cheese sticks, and a soda, coke.”

“You got it darling!” Betty stands up, “I’ll be right out with your drinks!” she disappears behind the counter. Jason fidgets a bit in his seat again, he keeps looking around like he’s expecting the rug to be pulled out from under him. Or that someone’s about to jump him.

She saw the file briefly on him when he stole the wheels from the Batmobile a couple of weeks ago, growing up on the streets of Park Row, or Crime Alley, as Gotham’s various news outlets were prone to call it. Deadbeat gangster affiliate of a father, and a mother that overdosed. No wonder he was skittish. Though Eleanor doubted that it would go over well if she told him that.

“Who’s the acrobat?” He asks, catching her slightly off guard.

“What?” She blinks at him.

“The handsome acrobat,” Jason repeats, “that’s what Betty said.”

“Oh, that’s Dick.”

“Him again.”

She shrugs, “whenever we had time we used to stop by here, it _is_ the best burger joint in Gotham.”

“So you keep saying,” Jason remarks, “so this Dick is an acrobat?”

“A trapeze artist actually, he grew up in the circus, was part of _The Flying Grayson’s_.”

Recognition flashes in Jason’s eyes. “I saw them once, with my dad.”

 _So, the Two Face thug had cared for his son._ Eleanor thinks. Betty comes over again and places down their drinks in front of them before she skitters off to deal with another customer.

“I did too,” Eleanor murmurs, though to say that that night had ended badly was an understatement. She can still remember how much Dick had shook when she’d gone to him, still in his performers outfit, holding on to his mother’s bracelet so hard his fingers had turned white.

Jason frowns, reaching over to take a sip out of his soda. Eleanor can tell he wants to ask; she must have let some sour expression show on her face by thinking about it all. Then Jason grimaces.

“I remember reading it in a newspaper, the parents were murdered, weren’t they?”

Eleanor nods. When Dick had first become Robin all those years ago it had been because he wanted to find his parents killer, and he had. Bruce and Dick had gotten back from dealing with Zucco and not said a word. Eleanor hadn’t wanted to pry, even though she let Dick know that if he wanted to talk about it, she would listen. Dick never did.

“Here you go darlings!” Betty chirps happily as she places the food in front of them. Eleanor forces a smile on to her lips.

“Thanks, Bee, you’re the best.”

Jason’s twelve years old, but boy does he have an appetite. Once he’s done devouring his own food – Eleanor tells him several times chuckling, to “remember to breathe Jason”, he steals the rest of her fries off her own plate. About a minute afterwards he groans as he leans backwards in his seat.

“I ate too fast.”

Betty comes over and asks them if they want anything else, Jason groans out a no, and Eleanor smiles up to the older woman, holding out her card so that she can pay for their meal.

“So, Jason, I was thinking,” Eleanor starts, shifting forward a bit to grab his attention. Jason’s eyes are also blue, she notes, just like her fathers was and Dicks. But there’s hints of green in them too. “Your shoes have seen better days; we could go to one of the malls tomorrow and get you some new stuff.”

Jason frowns at her, “why are you being so nice to me, you hardly know me.”

“We could be friends,” Eleanor shrugs, “if you want.”

“Friends are just people that have a better access of stabbing you in the back when you least expect it.”

Eleanor raises an eyebrow at the comment, Jason just meets her stare. It does sound rehearsed, like he’s said it before, or heard someone say it before. He’d spent most of his life on the streets of Crime Alley, Eleanor shouldn’t be surprised that Jason felt that way as it was one of the poorest areas of Gotham, and thus easy pickings for criminals. Hell, her own grandparents had died in that alley. Yet, Eleanor didn’t want to give up on him that easily.

“I can prove that wrong,” she says, “but you’ve gotta give me a chance to do so.”

“Why should I? Jury is still out on whether I stay or not, right?”

Ah, Eleanor’s own words coming back to bite her in the ass. She lets out a breath and a small chuckle.

“Got me there,” Eleanor nods, pursing her lips. Betty shows up again with a receipt and the credit card, Eleanor’s not sure if the waitress can read the standoff between her and Jason but the woman doesn’t linger, returning to the counter to fill another costumer’s coffee up.

“What have you got to lose?” She prods, shifting to look at the stubborn twelve-year-old in front of her. “You stick around, you get the run of the manor, free food and new clothes. If you don’t want to stay by the end of the week, I won’t try to keep you.”

“What about Wayne? Will he try to stop me from leaving?”

 _Probably_ , Eleanor thinks, _but not the way Jason’s thinking_.

“I’ll keep him busy while you run,” Eleanor says instead. Jason’s eyes narrow, so she holds her hand out, pinky finger up. “Pinky swear.”

He watches her through sceptical sea green eyes, almost as if what she’s doing is childlike and silly. Maybe it is, but Dick had once told her it was a sacred oath. The Pinky Swear was never to be taken lightly. Then to her baffled astonishment, he actually wraps his own pinky around hers. Completely serious.

“Pinky swear.”

**Author's Note:**

> Jason is adorable and smol and need to be protected. <3  
> Thank you guys for reading!


End file.
